The consent from the family was taken a day before the agency is scheduled to conduct the same test on the accused brothers and the constables whose services have been terminated.

Accordingly, a local court has directed Budaun jail authorities to ensure the presence of all five accused before the Central Forensic Science Laboratory team from Tuesday to Thursday for lie detection tests. ( Source: PTI )

Ten days after it started probe in the Badaun cousins’ case, the CBI has sought permission to conduct polygraph or lie detector tests on the fathers of the two girls, and the main eyewitness who is a neighbour and close associate of the family.

Accordingly, a local court has directed Budaun jail authorities to ensure the presence of all five accused before the Central Forensic Science Laboratory team from Tuesday to Thursday for lie detection tests.

The cousins aged 16 and 14 were found hanging from a mango tree in Katra Sadarganj village on May 28. The police have arrested five persons, including three brothers and two police constables, in connection with the case.

Sources said the permission for a polygraph test was sought by the CBI after the fathers of the deceased submitted a broken mobile phone, which reportedly belonged to the elder of the two girls, on Sunday after two days of questioning.

The youngest of the accused brothers had told the police that the elder girl, who was his friend, had called him from her phone to meet on May 27 evening to discuss plans to go to a village fair, but the family of the victims had till now denied either of the girls used any mobile phone.

The sources confirmed the family members of the deceased and the eyewitness had given written consent for the polygraph tests. “We will be putting an application before the court, with the consent of the family, for a go-ahead to the tests,” said a CBI spokesperson.

The consent from the family was taken a day before the agency is scheduled to conduct the same test on the accused brothers and the constables whose services have been terminated. The sources said the phone was broken with no SIM card inside, adding that it was yet to be ascertained as to how much it would aid the investigations.

The sources said the family members who had first denied that the elder girl had a mobile phone told the CBI late on Saturday evening that they had broken the phone “in a fit of rage and grief”. They said the family had, however, maintained its stand on the sequence of events.

The sources said some people from the village had told the CBI that a mobile phone had been seen on the person of one of the girls when their bodies were hanging and the family was protesting, but it “disappeared” later. According to police records, and the post-mortem reports, no phone was retrieved from the bodies.

The sources said the CBI might question a local leader who the family had reportedly contacted for help when the bodies were found hanging.